Jurisdiction
by Nothorse
Summary: When Coulson and his team investigate an incident in England, questions of jurisdiction arise.


The light show on the top floor seemed to be done when their SUV reached the building. Oddly, there was no police presence at all. Coulson frowned, the british police usually was faster than that. He pulled in in front of the building's entrance and nodded to Ward who got out of the car.

He turned around, "Skye, any reasons why the police isn't here?"

Skye's face, lit up by the glow of her tablet, looked worried. "There's nothing, Boss. It all cut out about five minutes ago. Since then there's no chatter, no back channel communication that I can see and I should see _a lot_."

"We need more information," said Coulson. He thought for a moment, his fingers quietly tapping the steering wheel. "I need readings. Fitz, can your drones reach there from here?"

"No problem. The dwarves can rise up to 15 meters, that should be enough."

"Get one in the air, and see if you can look through the window."

"On its way."

"May, anything back at the bus?"

"No, sir. Authorities are completely quiet. The bus draws no attention that I can see", said Melinda May through the com-link.

"Ward?"

"All clear, sir. Unbelievable as it is."

"Fitz?"

"The rooms are dark sir. I can see some damage, but no bodies, alive or dead. Thermoscan reads empty, too."

"OK", he nodded and opened the car door. "Skye, stay in the car, please, monitor communications. Fitzsimmons you're with me. "

They got out of the car. Fitz and Simmons were carrying their tools, Coulson and Ward looking out for threats. When they reached the door, Ward made quick work of the lock and they slipped into the building.

Ward looked around, uneasy with the quiet. He raised an eyebrow to Coulson and received a nod in return. A quick movement later, his gun was in his hand and he took point. Fitzsimmons approached the elevator, but a quick head-shake redirected them to the staircase.

It didn't take long, even as careful as they were, to reach the top floor. Ward covered the corridor while Coulson secured the staircase. Fitz and Simmons had hunkered down at the head of the stairs and sent the drones ahead. Leo Fitz watched the tablet, then got up and entered the corridor.

"All empty, sir", he said. "There's no heat sources anywhere on this floor."

"Skye?"

"I'm in all the cctv channels, the streets are completely empty."

Coulson nodded. "OK, then. Agent Ward, please open the door for us. Fitz, get ready."

Leo Fitz opened his carrying case and freed the other drones, directing them through the door and into the office behind. He watched his tablet and muttered something incomprehensible. Frowning, he switched Bashful and Grumpy over to Simmons. "See if you can make sense of this?"

Coulson had meanwhile checked the rooms. There was some destroyed furniture and scorch marks on the walls, but the whole office was otherwise far too clean for his taste.

"Fitzsimmons. Tell me something" he said.

"Err—", said Simmons, "if I believe the organic particulate count, nobody has been in here for months. The dust analysis though, tells me the whole apartment has been cleaned very recently." "And it can't be robots either," continued Fitz, "no amount of engine or lubricant residue in the air. Additionally, these scorch marks on the wall. Are completely room temperature, but they are to fresh in mechanical composition of the ash to be older than two or three hours, and they shouldn't be that cold." "All in all", Simmons again, "this place is completely—"

They all had heard a soft pop and stopped moving. "Skye?" asked Coulson sub-vocally "Did anybody enter the house?"

"Nope. No movement."

Coulson held up a hand and motioned Ward behind the door. He turned and waited.

From the Hallway came a woman's voice. "Mr. Coulson and team, I presume?"

"You have me at a disadvantage", Coulson called out.

"I do, yes. I'll introduce us in a moment. Would you mind telling the gentleman behind the door to stand down?"

"Of course." He nodded to Ward and waited.

Three persons entered the room. In the middle was the woman who had spoken, dressed in a long buttoned up grey tweed dress. She was escorted by two young men in double-breasted red coats that looked anachronistically military and whose bearing agreed with that look. Evene though they were not carrying any obvious weapons, they gave the impression of having the room covered.

The woman smiled tightly and said, "Good evening, Mr. Coulson. My name is Hermione Weasley —" Simmons lost the grip on her tablet and it clattered to the ground, impossibly loud in the tense silence. "— MI nine three-slash-four. You are currently intruding into our jurisdiction and an active investigation. I'll have to ask your team to leave."

"It's _Agent_ Coulson, and I'm rather sure that we are within the remit of our organisation", said Coulson. "This scene has all the indicators for S.H.I.E.L.D. Involvement, Miss Weasley."

"Mrs. Weasley, actually", said the woman. "Or, if we have to be formal, Dame Hermione."

Simmons' knees finally gave out and she sat down with a thump. The woman's face softened. She turned to Simmons who was sitting on the floor, cradling her tablet and looking open-mouthed at the woman. "Yes, I am, Miss Simmons and no, not entirely, they were written for children after all and I don't mind chatting with you later, after our business here is concluded. But let's not get a-head of ourselves."

She turned to Coulson again, "_Agent_ Coulson. While your director is certainly influential and has considerable backing, there are places in this world where his mighty arm does not reach. This is one of them. This crime-scene has already been processed by the responsible authorities, in this case, us. You will not find anything that pertains to your bailiwick. So I'll have to ask you again to order your team to leave."

Coulson thought for a moment. "I don't want a fight, Ma'am. But I do have to confirm your assertions. May I have a moment?"

The woman turned to the smaller of her escorts. "Finnegan, restore their communications." The young man nodded and waved his hand in a peculiar way. That instant, Coulson's earpiece came to life again.

"Coulson? Phil? This is the bus, do you read?"

"I hear you, May."

"What happened? Comms dropped out and then I get a call from headquarters to get you out of there. Are you OK?"

"We're OK, May. We just had a discussion about jurisdiction with british colleagues. You said HQ ordered us out?"

"Yes, sir. Just a minute or two after comms dropped out, I got the recall."

"OK then. We'll be back a.s.a.p. Coulson out."

"It seems my superiors agree to your interpretations, so we'll leave immediately."

The woman held up a hand. "Your team leaves, Agent. I'm afraid I'll have to invite _you_ in for a few questions."

Ward started to raise his gun, but dropped it again, when Coulson held up a hand.

"My team is free to leave?"

"Yes", the woman nodded.

"And you need me to answer questions? Questions about this case?"

"No, Agent Coulson. Questions about your continued existence."

Coulson raised an eyebrow.

"You were dead, Agent", continued the woman. "And yet, here you are. If it is not a case of a simple successful resuscitation, I'm afraid that practically all known methods to achieve this are highly illegal."

"Ah", he said. "Ward, take the crew to the bus. I'll be along as soon as that is cleared up"

"Sir, I —"

"Go to the bus. I _will_ be along."

"If you say so, sir." Ward turned and addressed the others. "Fitzsimmons, collect your toys. Let's go."

The woman smiled tightly. "Good-bye. Miss Simmons, I'll call you. Agent Coulson, you're with me."

She laid a hand on his arm and a short gut-wrenching moment later they were in a small grey room where another red-coated man waited for them.

"Agent Coulson" said the woman, "Harry Potter. He's the expert on these questions. Harry, he's all yours."


End file.
